


I'll Wait

by kiwi05622



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Light Angst, Pining Draco Malfoy, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:20:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29428026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwi05622/pseuds/kiwi05622
Summary: If losing your first love is hard, then opening yourself up to a second seems monumental.  This is Hermione’s journey at her second chance at love.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 46
Collections: Dramione Valentine Exchange





	I'll Wait

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PacificRimbaud](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PacificRimbaud/gifts).
  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [DramioneValentineExchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/DramioneValentineExchange) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Second chance at love trope
> 
> Dear PacificRimbaud,
> 
> Happy Valentines Day! 
> 
> I loved writing for your prompt! It was definitely a first for me, and I hope I did it justice! 
> 
> Enjoy!!
> 
> Kiwi <3 
> 
> I am eternally grateful and thankful to my favourite person in the entire world, [TakingFlight48](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Takingflight48), for alphaing and betaing this story tirelessly throughout the night on this story. I love you so much <3 
> 
> Finally, a huge thank you to the hosts of Dramione Valentine Exchange!

She waved Ginny goodbye as the door clicked closed and she turned back to the mirror a final time. Her fingers traced around the intricate beading of her bust and her mind automatically harkened back to the long-winded journey that had gotten her here today. 

Everything changed a couple of years ago, not when her long-term, almost fated relationship fell apart, but when a certain blond had knocked on her door, ripping her out of her self imposed misery. 

* * *

_ It was six months after the breakup, and Hermione felt alone. More alone than she had ever felt in her life. As a child, she would resort to reading books to drown this loneliness, always grateful to escape in the facts and tales of literature. However, as an adult, books didn't cut it anymore. And even looking at her work projects made her feel ill. All this triggered by Ron telling her in that most annoying way that he had found someone else. She was happy for him. Really she was, but that didn't mean it didn't sting that he had moved on, and she was still in the same position when she had released him. Moving on required energy and she just didn't have the energy to be in another relationship right now when all of her time was dedicated to working. She released a frustrated sigh as she sat surrounded by silence.  _

_ She knew that it wasn't just her work that ended what was supposed to be her fairy tale ending, but it felt like it. She didn’t understand how she had fallen out of love with someone she had virtually been fated to end up with. She couldn’t wrap her mind around the wicked game her life was playing on her. Because even though she didn’t love him anymore she had still loved him once, fiercely, and how could she ever find a love that burned so deeply within her. How could she ever feel that way for another when this one had been so thoroughly doused with life and her professional devotion.  _

_ So Hermione had cried a lot. But the tears only came for the first few days. After that, it was less crying and more…emptiness. Ron had made their flat into a home and the longer she moved around the space, the less it felt like home and the more she realized she needed assistance in dulling the reminder of her loss.  _

_ Thankfully, she looked completely put together and composed at work, but when she entered her flat in the evenings, she found herself drinking until she emptied the contents of her stomach over the porcelain sink.  _

_ While Ron was awkwardly letting her know that he had been seeing an unknown witch for a few months, she was planning the exact drinks she would be downing while she nodded silently at him and plastered a fake smile on her face. Anytime she would read another outing with his significant other or a lovely photo splashed across the society pages, Hermione would instead refocus on what drink would get her blitz the fastest, make this misery shrink the best. _

_ So when she passed by a muggle store before coming back home, she had frozen at the face of a stronger liquid, robotically purchasing what she had felt she needed. As soon as her feet landed on the wooden floor of their once home, she ignored the tears that were threatening to leak from the corners of her eyes and her trembling hands wrapped around the glass bottle and took a healthy swig of the clear transparent drink. The burning was awful, but it helped dull everything. Which, intellectually speaking, was rather odd because she was already feeling dull and numb, the alcohol only made the numbness more bearable.  _

_ Hermione knew as she paced her floor, that the new habit she picked up was unhealthy and that she would eventually have to pull herself together. But right now, she couldn't do it.  _

_ It was a phase, she told herself. She held tight to this fact on her darkest nights. But she didn’t love drinking the way an alcoholic did. It made her brain feel slow and broke the filter that kept her from saying stupid things, or things that made other people feel stupid.  _

_ And she knew, even as she threw back another shot of the foul liquid, that she should be handling this better. She knew she had friends—their friends—that would never choose sides, the same friends that had begged her to come to them because they weren’t choosing sides. But Hermione knew them, knew how hard it had been for everyone when others had split, and would never add any more discomfort because of her sadness. She had ended the relationship after all. _

_ And Harry—Hermione grimaced as she poured herself another, sitting against the unforgiving floor of her flat—dear Harry how she missed him so. She could count on him to be here, to hold her hand even as she cried over her treacherous heart. But she didn’t want to deal with his concerned glances at the dullness she felt inside. She didn’t want to see him get into any of his own marital problems with Ginny or her family.  _

_ Downing the shot Hermione grimaced not for the flavour that was now dulling her taste buds, but because Harry having to choose between her and his in-laws made her heart squeeze tighter in her chest. So she looked at the bottle in her hand, the bottles that once sat sentinel in the glass case and knew then that for now, this was all the help she needed. This had to be her only help, even when they all wanted to help, even when they were potentially all waiting outside her door, she wasn’t ready to let them in, metaphorically and literally. She was a mess and she deserved the sloppy reality she hid under at night.  _

_ Laughing silently to herself as some of the liquor dribbled out of the refilled shot glass, she remembered how excellently she had warded her flat.  _

_ She gasped when a loud knock sounded against her warded door. She furrowed her brow at the sound, the wards knew how to keep everyone away. So the knocking? Impossible. An average person would ignore it and go back to being drunk. But she was Hermione, and now she was curious. So she stood up and stumbled to the door, wrenching it open to reveal the last person she had expected. The sight of him had the liquor heating up deep in her gut as she flushed at his presence, body rooted to the floor. _

_ Draco Malfoy stood just outside the threshold of her door, standing tall with his broad shoulders, platinum blonde hair pushed back to the side, and he had a deep furrow of concern etched into his face. He was clad in his Auror robes with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. She cowered slightly from his intense grey stare but immediately after stood ramrod straight when she remembered herself and glared back at him. After all, he was the one intruding on her.  _

_ His mouth fell slightly apart and raised an eyebrow at her, taking her in, concern further marring his features as he looked Hermione up and down checking on her, not in lust but as if she was a missing person he needed to identify. _

_ "You look like shit,” he finally said. That was the first thing he had said to her in years. And it was honest, brutally honest, but she appreciated it, because not only did she look it, she felt it. _

_ She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "I know. What do you want, Malfoy?" _

_ He rolled his eyes. "Come now, it's been years since Hogwarts, and I even helped the Good Guys at the end, doesn't that warrant a little hospitality? Not even a lot, just enough to, you know, call me by my actual name?" _

_ "No. What do you want Malfoy?" She didn't give in easily. Although they had moved past their hostility years ago, she was not in the mood for company tonight. Whatever he wanted, he could tell her, go away, and let her drink again. _

_ "I want you to stop drinking." He told her bluntly.  _

_ "Goodbye." She shut the door in his face and turned around. So arrogant still, demanding she heed his request. He was a virtual stranger, no matter that they had seen each other here and there at get-togethers. Unsurprisingly, he started knocking on her door again. No, knocking was not the sound penetrating through the padding of her brain. This time he was slamming his fist against her door, relentless, and if she wasn’t so pissed she may have realised he had amplified the sound to demand a response. With a deep growl, she resolved to deal with him instead of simply silencing the space and potentially messing up the spell.  _

_ She walked back to the door and flung it open to find the prat's face looking at her with a single eyebrow raised. "Is this how you treat all your guests?" _

_ "I do." Considering Malfoy was the first of her guests to arrive, that was a factually correct statement. _

_ "Fair enough then. Still rude, though." Malfoy chuckled. _

_ "Oh, like you have any room to talk!" She growled at him. Grown or not, he was still Draco Malfoy. _

_ He nodded. "Oh, but I do. You see, I've grown up. Or haven’t you heard? I am a functioning member of society now, not just that prat from your past." He turned and looked her in the eyes with a hint of sadness. "I am not my father's son. Not anymore." _

_ Great. Now she felt even more guilty. "Fine. You aren't. You've grown up splendidly, but we aren't friends, and that doesn't give you the right to come over here and lecture me." _

_ He visibly hunched his shoulders and she knew she had said the wrong thing. But he merely rolled his eyes. "I'm going to ignore that bit about not being my friend and tell you what I came here to say. I wasn't lecturing you. I came over to see how you were and commented accurately on your appearance. You asked what I want, and I was honest." He crossed his arms. "No, me lecturing you would involve something like 'drinking away your sorrows is unhealthy, and what you are doing is only leading to a path of unhappiness' or something sufficiently profound." _

_ It was her turn to roll her eyes. "I know it's unhealthy Malfoy. I know what I'm doing is the worst choice I can make right now. I know that this is an awful time for me and drowning my emotions will lead me to problems that will eventually make me feel even worse than I do now. I know, Malfoy, and I. Don't. Care!" She raised her voice at him and almost slammed the door on his face again. _

_ But Draco just narrowed his eyes at her, dismissing her anger entirely. And to be honest? That was the best thing for her right now. To brush away her anger made it seem trivial, something she shouldn't have gotten upset over, and it calmed her down. _

_ He thrust his long arms out to hold the door open and sighed, "Can I please come in?" _

_ Hermione didn't have the energy to fight with anyone, and she shuffled back to her living room, hoping that he got the message to let himself in.  _

_ Malfoy sat on the beige three-seater sofa and laid his arms on top of his legs, the hair that was neatly pushed back fell out of its place and landed across his eyes. "You know you're intimidating Hermione Granger." Draco inhaled and looked to be steeling himself for something. "I've come here to tell you there are other solutions to drinking away the pain. I've done it myself, so it's anecdotal evidence that it works." _

_ She blinked and gave him a one-shoulder shrug. "Let's hear it then."  _

_ He hesitated for only a second. "Well, you could start by focusing on matters that don't revolve around your job, Granger—" _

_ "But—" she tried to interrupt him, but he merely raised his hand. _

_ "Please, Granger, just let me finish. You don't know how hard it was to bring myself here and how many protocols I broke to get past your wards. You haven't given anyone a chance to approach you, and we all know you're going through a difficult period in your life. If you don't need anyone to help you with your situation, then please, I implore you to find help by yourself."  _

_ "How do I do that? I had my entire life planned out. I feel…lost," her voice was barely a whisper. Now that her anger had slowly ebbed away, the tears that were previously threatening to fall were freely soaking her heated cheeks.  _

_ Hermione lifted her eyes, shame washing over her that Malfoy of all people had seen her in her darkest hour, and hoped to find the answers in his stormy eyes. She didn't find pity in them, but what she found shocked her to her core. Concern and pain were filtering across his face. He sat at the edge of the seat with his hands laced tightly in front of him.  _

_ "Whatever you feel you need, Granger. After the war, I too felt lost and out of place. Before joining the Auror program, I took a year off and travelled around Europe. Meeting new people and having the chance to experience different things helped put things into perspective for me. So you will need to find something, other than work, that brings you happiness. Work will always be there when you return if you decide to take time off. You could always find something to do after work. It would be best to learn to be on your own and let loose a little, Granger. Not everything needs to be meticulously planned out in front of you." He smiled at her, and the sight of it was her undoing.  _

_ She let out a sound that was halfway between a sob and a chuckle, "When did you become so wise?"  _

_ "You never gave yourself the chance to get to know me." His tone was serious and the intense look he shot her made her body warm from the inside out.  _

_ She shuffled in her seat to better sit upright and rubbed away the tears with the sleeve of her fleecy jacket, "I'm sorry, Malfoy. About what I said earlier. You can be my friend."  _

_ "I would hope to be more than that one day," he said, his voice a bare whisper in the silent flat.  _

_ "What?" Hermione's eyes widened.  _

_ He merely shook his head, looking down," “Not right now, but when you're ready. I would be honoured if you would allow me the chance to take you out." He stopped abruptly, moving his gaze up from the ground, then letting his eyes drift up to her face. _

_ "Draco, what are you saying?" She could tell there was more he wanted to say, even as her heart beat painfully in her chest as the realisation dawned upon her that she might not be ready to hear it just yet. _

_ "Hermione, I-" he let out a heavy sigh, shoulders slumping forward, "When you're ready, please seek me out. I won't push you to do anything you're not ready for. But, I missed my chance before, and I won't do it again. I'm here to let you know that I'll wait for you."  _

_ "No," she said stoically. "It's only been six months. That is much, much too soon to be dating again. I just got out of a long term relationship, I was engaged to be married, and I'm not in the right headspace to date anyone right now." _

_ And Draco stood to leave. "That's fine. I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer," he shot her a sad smile and approached her to land a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Goodnight Granger. Take it easy on the drink tonight and remember what I said earlier."  _

_ And just like that, he left. _

* * *

  
  


Hermione didn't think she was ready to give love another go. She was enjoying her time alone a little too much. But whenever Malfoy would be around, she felt a long-forgotten feeling, a low and pleasant hum that warmed her blood. Her brain fizzled when he would speak to her, and she had trouble aligning her thoughts. It wasn't that he did anything out of the ordinary, but she knew deep down it was because she was aware of his feelings towards her. 

She knew his feelings didn't change; she would catch him from time to time watching her but immediately wrenching his gaze away from her. Goosebumps would prickle from the accidental touch of a hand or a brush of a knee when they sat beside each other around a table. 

It was when she woke up from a nightmare one warm night, drenched in her sweat and bile threatening to rise up her throat, that she realized she was alone. When Hermione found no one by her side that she could seek comfort with, lungs gasping for air as she spread her arm out on the empty side of her queen-sized bed, a picture of a sleeping Malfoy flickered behind her closed lids. It had shocked her, but it wasn't horror that she felt at the image, rather it was longing. 

As she learned more about herself in these past two years than she did in her entire life, she knew if she'd woken up wanting  _ someone _ , then perhaps her heart was ready to be put out there once again. 

The sound of shuffling feet snapped her out of her trance and she caught Harry's messy black hair in the reflection. He had a stunned look on his face as his shoes clicked on the hardwood floor, the only sound in her sizable bridal suite. 

"You look beautiful, Hermione." He gently laid a kiss on her temple. 

"Thank you, Harry." The corners of her pink lips quirked into a light smile.

"Are you ready?" He grasped her bare arms gently and turned her to face him instead of the mirror. 

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, trying and failing to calm the fluttering in her stomach that has yet to subside since the long week leading up to this day. She opened her eyes as a warm summer breeze shuffled the sheer curtains of the open window, stirring a few strands of curls around her cheeks that Harry had caught and tucked behind her ears. 

Hermione found a sense of calmness deep inside his green eyes. He was proud of her. She was proud of herself. She had finally found her second chance at love, and it was everything she wanted and hoped for in a relationship.

_ He _ was perfect. 

She picked up her fragrant bouquet off the wooden side table and wrapped her fingers around the stems and hooked her other arm around Harry’s. Taking a deep breath, she nodded and said, "More than you think."

  
  
  



End file.
